I am a medieval historian focusing on Europe and the Mediterranean in the high Middle Ages. I am particularly interested in administrative, cultural, and gender history. I came to medieval history through reading medieval historical fiction while doing graduate work in physics. After attending a Medieval Studies conference in 2010, I was hooked!

I am an assistant professor of history as of Fall 2025, and I am thrilled to be here at MTSU. I emphasize the importance of approaching topics from multiple perspectives and disciplines and draw from other fields such as art history, religion, literature, and music. I teach both ancient and medieval history courses.

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Refereed Articles and Chapters in Collections

• “Power, Property, and Paris: The Case of Champagne-Navarre,” in Beyond the Borders of the Realm: Aristocratic Culture and the Making of France, 1000–1300: Essays in Honor of Theodore Evergates, ed. Anne E. Lester and Randall Pippenger (Turnhout: Brepols, forthcoming 2026).  
• “Under His Protection: Securing Land, Loyalty, and Sovereignty in Thirteenth-Century Champagne and Navarre,” French History 38, no. 2 (2024): 446-458.  
• “In His Name: Religion as Administrative Strategy in Thirteenth-Century Champagne (and Navarre?),” Haskins Society Journal 32 (2020): 205-225.                          
• “A Castilian agreement and two English briefs: writing in revolt in thirteenth-century Castile and England,” Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies 8, no. 1 (2016): 75-93.

Book Reviews

• Justine Firnhaber-Baker, The Jacquerie of 1358: A French Peasants’ Revolt (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021) for H-France, https://h-france.net/vol24reviews/vol24_no7_Bjerke.pdf.  
• Helen J. Nicholson, Women and the Crusades (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023) for H-War, https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=59622.

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